


According to Plan

by kinoface



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Community: ninoexchange, Injury, M/M, Skiing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 04:37:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinoface/pseuds/kinoface
Summary: Nino usually weasels his way out of attending the annual office retreats, but this year, he has a plan.





	According to Plan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yun_miyake](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=yun_miyake).



> Written for Nino Exchange 2017 and originally posted [here](http://ninoexchange.dreamwidth.org/90771.html).
> 
> Thank you to Phrenk for beta-reading. ♥

The first thing Nino does when he and his coworkers arrive to the cabin for their annual office retreat is scout out which bed he'll be sleeping in this weekend. While the other four are wandering around checking out the rest of the cabin, Nino stakes his claim on the bed that's most isolated, the one that's located at the far end of the cabin and isn't on the way to the bathroom or the kitchen, so no one will have any reason to pass by and disturb him. He's going to need all the privacy he can get if he's going to sneak Aiba into his bed this weekend.

Of course, sneaking Aiba into his bed isn't exactly a done deal, but it's the whole reason Nino is here in the first place. Although he's been interested in Aiba for years now, it was only at last week's office party that Aiba confessed his own feelings and they realized that all this time, their pining hasn't been one-sided after all. They agreed to go out on a date, but then everyone in the office got so busy working on finishing a big project before the looming deadline, so Aiba's promise to take Nino out for dinner and drinks hasn't yet come to fruition. That's where this retreat comes in: Sho-kun plans one every year, and every year, Nino finds some reason or another not to attend, but this time Sho leaned into Nino's cubicle and said in his most supervisor-like voice, "Just letting you know in advance that this year's retreat is _mandatory._ " Nino is confident that he still could have found a way out of it, but he didn't even try to think up some smartass response like _But what if my apartment explodes?_ or _I think I might be coming down with a highly contagious disease._ Instead, he let it go.

He let it go because an all-expenses-paid trip to a ski resort, where he can talk his way out of any actual skiing and instead spend the weekend hermiting away and sipping hot chocolate in a cozy cabin, doesn't sound too bad... especially since he's pretty sure he can convince Aiba to join him. A work-sponsored trip to a ski resort is okay, but a work-sponsored trip to a ski resort where he can be alone with Aiba is fantastic. He couldn't have planned it better himself.

The only problem: Aiba seems to have been planning something else entirely.

They drove here together in Nino's car, and Nino was hoping they'd at least be able to talk about what they want to do over the weekend, but Aiba spent the entire ride with his headphones on as he watched videos on his phone. Nino thought it seemed uncharacteristically rude, and to make matters worse, when he pressed for details about what Aiba was watching, Aiba simply told him it was a secret. Now, they haven't even been in the cabin for five minutes before Aiba pokes his head around a corner and peers into the area Nino has claimed for himself, asking, "Wanna go hit the powder?"

"Hit the powder," Nino parrots with a snort. "What, are you a snow bunny all of a sudden?"

"I've really been looking forward to this," Aiba says. He steps fully into the room, and now Nino can see that he's decked out in full skiing gear, including a comically puffy, emerald-green windbreaker. "I feel kinda bad for not having a chance to keep my promise last week," he continues, "and I know you're probably not super happy about coming along on this trip since you usually skip them, so I wanted to make it all up to you by giving you a private skiing lesson."

Nino quirks an eyebrow. "A private skiing lesson, you say?" Maybe Aiba's plan isn't so different from his after all.

Aiba's shy smile widens into a grin. "Yeah, it'll be fun! Just you and me!" He points back towards the front of the cabin, where Nino can hear the others talking heatedly about something. "Plus, Matsujun is offering an unsolicited critique of Sho-chan's itinerary, so who knows how long it'll be before they're ready to actually do anything."

When Aiba puts it that way, Nino definitely sees his point. Pitting Sho's penchant for scheduling activities down to the minute against Jun's desire to do every single thing to its absolute fullest is like pitting an unstoppable force against an immovable object -- and by the time they finish arguing, Ohno will probably have settled in for a nap. If Nino and Aiba want to be alone any time soon, heading out to "hit the powder" really does seem like their best bet.

So, Nino begrudgingly gets dressed for the snow and follows Aiba back out to the front of the cabin. As they're heading for the door, the others stop them with questions about where they're going.

"I don't know much about rich-people sports like skiing," Nino says, "so Aiba-shi's gonna give me a private lesson." It takes some effort not to waggle his eyebrows when he says it.

Sho, clutching a copy of his itinerary so hard he might tear it in half, looks a bit skeptical. "Are you sure you want to go out alone?"

"We can come out with you," Jun offers. "I took some skiing lessons in preparation for the trip, so I can show you --"

"No, no thanks!" Aiba waves off their generous offers with a hint of laughter in his voice. "I'm an excellent teacher! By this time tomorrow, Nino will be the one teaching all of you!"

That gets a snort out of Ohno, while Sho and Jun trade looks of incredulity. "Just be careful," Sho finally says. "And remember to take your phones. Program the resort's emergency number into your contacts before you go out there! I don't want anyone getting lost on my watch!"

"Don't worry, Sho-chan, we won't get lost." Aiba offers an attempted wink and an enthusiastic thumbs up. "We'll be extra careful!"

-

Of course, the first thing they do once they hit the trail is take a wrong turn.

"This way will be better," Nino insists, pointing to the sign bearing a huge right-facing arrow as he himself jerks his thumb to the left. " _Everyone_ is gonna be over there. Over here we'll have much more privacy for your special lesson." This time he doesn't bother trying to keep the lecherous tone out of his voice.

Aiba agrees, so they leave the path and head for a small clearing behind a dense line of trees. The footing over here is a bit uneven -- okay, it's _very_ uneven, with pointy rocks and small boulders jutting out from beneath the snow every few steps -- but Nino figures it should be fine since they're not actually going to be skiing. They only stopped by check-in to rent some skis and poles before hitting the trail so their ruse would be even more believable, surely.

They decide to stop once they've made it far enough past the line of trees that no one will be able to spot them from the trail. Nino plants his skis and poles into the snow, letting them stand upright on their own, and turns around with a triumphant sigh to face Aiba --

\-- who is currently seated on a boulder, strapping himself into his skis.

"Wait -- what are you doing?"

Aiba looks up at him like _he's_ the idiot. "Uh, putting on my skis?"

"Yes, obviously, but _why_?"

"So I can teach you, of course! You should put yours on too -- or do you not know how? Bring them over and I'll show you --"

" _Aiba._ " Nino trudges through the snow, already difficult enough without a pair of huge sticks attached to his feet, and sets his hands on Aiba's shoulders to make Aiba look him in the eye. "Tell me you didn't bring me out here for an actual, literal private skiing lesson."

Aiba cocks his head to the side, a curious smile tugging at his lips. "But that's what I said I was going to do. What did you think I meant?"

Nino releases Aiba with a groan and rubs his hands down his face in frustration. "I thought 'private lesson' was a euphemism for -- I don't know -- making out or something!"

He regrets saying it as soon as he sees the grin that spreads over Aiba's face, his expression a perfect mix between fondness and the kind of amusement that will definitely lead to teasing for the entire rest of their relationship. Aiba pokes at his ribs and says, "You want to make out so soon, before I've even had a chance to take you out to dinner? I knew you were cheap, Nino, but this...!"

"Oh come on," Nino grumbles, giving Aiba's shoulder a half-hearted shove. "You're telling me it didn't occur to you even once?"

Aiba cries, "I'm a gentleman!", but judging from the smile that's still on his face, Nino must be right. "Besides, I've been working very hard on teaching myself how to ski just for this."

Nino starts to respond to that, but then he stops as his brain catches up with what Aiba just said. He snaps his mouth shut, then tries again. "Wait a second. Were you watching those videos on the way up here... to _teach yourself how to ski_?"

Aiba blinks up at him, the very picture of innocence. "I had to learn somehow, didn't I?"

"Have you ever actually gone skiing before!?"

"Well, no," Aiba admits, "but I'm a fast learner!"

Nino throws his arms up in disbelief and turns away from Aiba, marching back towards the skis and poles he left sticking out of the snow. Aiba scrambles to unstrap the skis from his boots and leaps up to chase after him, skipping ahead so Nino can see him hold his hands out as he pleads, "Nino, c'mon! It'll be a ton of fun!"

"I didn't come on this trip to have fun," Nino snaps, but then he realizes how ridiculous that sounds. "Or, I guess I did, just -- just not by skiing!"

Aiba gives him a puzzled look. "How could you not come out here to ski? It's a ski resort."

"Yeah, but... I guess I thought it would be a good excuse to just spend a weekend hanging out with you while everyone _else_ went out skiing."

Aiba's arms drop to his sides, but that fond smile is spreading over his face again. "That's cute," he says. Immediately, Nino feels his cheeks go warm, and Aiba jumps on that reaction, reaching out to poke Nino's ribs again. "'Hanging out,' huh? Is that another euphemism?"

Nino rolls his eyes and bats Aiba's hands away. "Not anymore," he scowls, digging his skis and poles out of the snow and turning back towards the trail so they can return to the cabin. "After this, the only 'hanging out' we'll be doing is --"

He's so focused on trudging away from Aiba that he doesn't think to watch where he's going, and before he knows it, his foot catches on the edge of a rock and sends him tumbling down into the snow, his ankle rolling painfully underneath him. It all happens in an instant: one second, they're walking side by side, and the next second, Nino's on the ground and choking back a howl because excruciating pain is suddenly radiating from his ankle through his whole body.

Aiba is at his side just a moment later, reaching out for him with the lingering traces of a smile on his face until he catches sight of Nino's pained expression. "Nino! Are you okay!?"

"My ankle," Nino manages to grit out through his clenched teeth. "I think I broke it."

Aiba gives out some kind of wordless warble of panic, but he's thinking clearly enough that he starts digging through his pockets for his phone. Good thing Sho reminded them to save the resort's emergency number before they left.

He makes the call, and medical personnel tell him to stay put and wait for the help that will be arriving shortly. Of course, Aiba leaves out the little detail about their detour; instead, he says he and Nino will be waiting on the trail.

When he hangs up, Nino groans, "You remember we're not actually _on_ the trail, right?"

Aiba tucks his phone into his pocket and zips it up before he starts rubbing his hands together like he's preparing for some great physical feat. "Yeah," he says, "but they don't need to know that." He rearranges himself so he's on bended knee at Nino's side, and then he slips one arm under Nino's knees, another under his shoulders.

"Nino," he says, as dashing as any movie star. "Hold on."

Nino wraps his arms around Aiba's shoulders and holds on for dear life. The pain flares as Aiba scoops him up and adjusts his footing, but Nino fists his hands in the downy hood of Aiba's windbreaker and thinks forward to all of the skiing he'll be able to avoid from now on.

As Aiba carries him back to the trail, Nino keeps holding on tight and sighs, "My hero."

-

His ankle isn't broken, it turns out, but it's sprained badly enough that he definitely won't be doing any skiing this weekend. He's not terribly upset about it since his original plan didn't involve much physical activity anyway -- at least not of the vertical variety -- but ideally he could do without the bandage and the crutches. Well, he supposes, beggars can't be choosers.

By the time he and Aiba make it back to the cabin, the other three have gone out to do some skiing of their own. Aiba called them as he and Nino were leaving the doctor, so they'll probably be back soon so Sho and Jun can scold them appropriately while Ohno sneaks off for a nap, but for now they're alone. Still, even with no witnesses around, it's a little embarrassing that Aiba insists on continuing to princess carry Nino the whole way.

"You thought _I_ was trying to speed things along," Nino gripes, only half-serious. "Now here you are, already treating this like it's our honeymoon. Will there be other honeymoon activities, at least?"

For all of Nino's joking, however, Aiba has looked very serious ever since the medical personnel met them on the trail. He's wearing a deep frown that looks wrong on his usually smiling face, and he hasn't laughed at anything Nino has said, not even that hilarious pun about great powder coming with great responsibility. When Aiba finally gets Nino to the back of the cabin and sets him down on his bed, as gentle as can be, Nino reaches out to grasp the sleeve of Aiba's ridiculous windbreaker before he can step away like he clearly wants to.

"Aiba-shi," Nino says, sounding serious for just a moment. "Really, you need to lighten up. Now answer me: will there or will there not be honeymoon activities?"

Aiba sighs and pulls his wrist from Nino's grasp, but then he twines their fingers together and holds on tight. "I'm really sorry about what happened."

Nino can't help but roll his eyes. He knew this was coming. "What are you sorry for? This isn't your fault. I'm the one who got confused and took us off the path. If it weren't for me, we wouldn't even have been out there."

"I guess that's true," Aiba concedes. "But --"

Before he can finish, Nino uses his grip on Aiba's hand to yank him forward. Aiba yelps in surprise and throws his other arm out to catch his fall, and he ends up hunched over Nino on the bed, one hand braced against the pillow under Nino's head, his other hand still grasping Nino's own while their faces hover mere inches apart.

"You know," Nino says, his voice quiet between them. "If you're really feeling bad, I'm thinking of a few ways you can make it up to me."

Aiba's eyes are huge, blinking owlishly, and then he bites his lip as his gaze moves down Nino's face, to his mouth, and then back up. There's uncertainty in his expression, like he isn't quite convinced that Nino could really mean what Aiba thinks he means.

Nino gives his hand a reassuring squeeze and whispers, "You can even buy me dinner afterwards."

That gets Aiba to laugh, and then he's finally leaning down to press his lips to Nino's.

The kiss is chaste, nowhere near the snow-meltingly steamy scenarios Nino has been imagining ever since Sho announced the trip, but it's still perfect. They're alone, they're indoors, Aiba's presence is warm and cozy like hot chocolate, he's close enough that Nino can smell his shampoo under the familiar scent of his cologne, and it's everything Nino has been wanting even if this isn't how he thought they'd get here.

They make out in the peaceful quiet of the cabin, parting reluctantly only when they hear the others arriving, but for now, Nino is happy. His lips feel tingly, and he knows that this is only the first time he and Aiba will get to be close like this -- nowhere near the last.

-

Overall, Nino would consider this year's version of the annual office retreat a roaring success. He doesn't even have to lie to weasel his way out of physical activity, and although the other four do take turns watching over him so everyone has a chance to go out and ski, Aiba happily volunteers for most of the shifts. They have plenty of time alone together, which they spend both hanging out and "hanging out," and the best part is that once they get back to the city, they can spend as much time as they want together now that they've jumped that first hurdle.

It might not have played out exactly the way Nino predicted... but, in the end, he couldn't have planned it better himself.


End file.
